Improvement in cotton-gins



F. L. WILKINSON; COTTON GIN.

No.'19,598. Patented Mar. 9, 1858.

IIIUNIIITED STATES PATENT OFFIC r. L. WILKINSON, or ADAMS BUN, SOUTHoARoLIINA.

IMPROVEMENT IN corronfcms. I

Specification forming part of Letters Patent [9,598, ,daledMart-h 9,i858.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, FRANCIS L. WILKINSON,

of Adams Run, in the District of Oolletou and State of South Carolina,have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Roller Cotton- Gin;and I dov hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of thesame, reference being had to. the annexed ,drawings,making a part of this specification,

in which- I r I Figural is a longitudinal vertical section ofmyimproveinent. I Fig. 2 is atransverse vertical section of the same,taken on thelinewx,

Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detached view of the lower roller.

Similar letters of .reference indicate corre sponding parts in theseveral figures.

This invention consists in having one or bothof the rollers of the gingrooved spirally similar to a screw, for the'purpose of readilydetaching the seed from the cotton; and also using, in connection withthe spirally-grooved roller or rollers, stripping-brushes and aguardplate, arranged as hereinafter shown,whereby the usual slow processof ginning cotton by means of rollers is much expedited without.

the least injury to the staple.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct mvinvention, I will o" of which have their hearings on the beams a a. Theroller B is parallel with the ends of the framing, and is covered with aleather strip, d, which is coiled spirally around it. The edges of thestrip (1 are not brought quite in contact with each other,and a spiralgroove,

6, is formed by the space between the edges of the strips (1, as shownclearly in Fig. I The journal c of the roller B extends beyond the sideof one of the beams a, and hasa cranlgf, formed on it, said crank beingconnected by a pitman, g, with one side of a treadlc,O, at the lowerpart of the frame A. To the opposite side of the treadle C the lower endof a pitman, It, is attached. The upper end of this pitman is attachedto a crank, '5, of a shaft, j, which shaft has a fly-wheel, 7:, on" it,and a toothed wheel, Z, said toothed wheel gearing into a pinion, 1, 11one of thejournals of a roller," D, which bears on the leather of theroller B. A fiy-wheel, a, is placed on the journal 0 of the lowerroller, B1 The journals of the roller D are fitted in one end of barso0, the opposite ends of which are. attached to 'one end of the frame Aat 1). (See Fig. 1.)

Screws q q. 'pas s through the bars 0 0 near the roller D, each screwbeing provided with a thumb-nut by which the pressure of the rollers Dand, B may be graduated,as desired. The'roller Dis constructed. ofmetal, and has a. spiral groove,.r, running its whole length, so thatthe roller resembles a screw, as shown in Fig. 2: The roller D issmaller in diameter than the roller B ,---as shown plainly in Fig, 1. Eis a metal-plate, which is'screwed to a board or strip, ,F,placedtransversely in the frame A.. The plate E is secured to the boardF by clamps s, and the upper edge of the plate rests upon the roller B.The plate E may be .adjusted higher or lower, as desired, and it will beseen by referring to Fig. 1 that "this plate E serves to diminish thecapacity of the angle formed by the contact of the two rollers, andprevent the seed from being drawn between the rollers.

G is the feed-board, which is slightly inclined, and has parallel rods Ifitted to or driven in its inner edge-to form a grating or riddle. Thefeed-board is placed in the usual position relatively with lower roller,B.

H. is a brush-bar, the ends of which are attached to elastic plates aonthe bars 0.0. The brushes 1) are attached to the under side of bar Hat equal distances apart, and the lower ends of the brushes extend downa little back of the roller A, as shown clearly in Fig. 1.

I is a brush-bar fitted in the frame A, and having brushes w attachedtoits upper surface. The upper ends of the brushes to bear against theback side of roller B. (See Fig.1.)

The operation is as follows: The cotton to be ginne'd is placed on thefeed-board G and fed by hand to the rollers I) B, which are r0 t-ated byoperating the treadle O with the foot, an arbitrary motion beingcommunicated to the upper roller, D,'by means of the wheels Z 121, therelative size of which is such that the periphery of the smaller roller,D, will move as fast as the lower one, B. The cotton passes between therollers D B, .it being drawn between them in consequence of the biteformed by the contact ofthe two rollers, and the spiral groove 1' inroller D, assisted by the spiral groove 6, formed by the leather stripsd, move the seed slightly forward and backward, and have atendency togive it a twisting movement, which causes the staple or fibers to bereadily detached from the seed without being the least broken orinjured, and consequently the cotton maybe rapidlyginned. The plate Eprevents the rollers from drawing-the seed between them, as itdiminishes or contracts the angle formed by the bite or line of contactof the rollers, and the seed, therefore, instead of being drawn betweenthe rollers by their rotation, will be repelled from them.. Thebrushes ov of the bars H I strip the ginncd cotton from the rollers, and inconsequence of said brushes being placed relatively with theirrespective rollers, as shown, the cotton cannot pass the brushes bypressing them from the rollers. The seed falls through or between therods 16.

I would remark that the roller 13, by having a spiral groove, 6, formedon it by placing the leather (1 around it, as shown and described, willassist the roller .D in moving or acting upon the seed as herein setforth; but the groove in thelower roller, B, may be dispensed with,although I prefer to have it.

This machine has been practically tested,

and it operates well, not injuring the fiber or v claim separatelyandirrespective of their relative position with the rollers D B thebrushes -v 'w on the bars H I; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim. as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement, as herein shown and described, of the spirally-groovedrollers 13 D, one or both, stripping-brushes v w, and plate E, for thepurposes set forth.

F. L. WILKINSON.

Witnesses:

WM. W. CLEMENT,

LEGAIE.'

